


Rokushi 2020: Vacation: In Which Two Clueless Zombies Hit The Beach

by CryptidGrimnoir137



Series: Kingdom Hearts: Rokushi Week 2020 [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Day At The Beach, Dolphins, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24751870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryptidGrimnoir137/pseuds/CryptidGrimnoir137
Summary: After all this time, Roxas and Xion finally get to go to the beach. Well, Axel's coming too, but he intends to sleep through the day. Roxas and Xion know there's much more to do-swim in the water, hunt for sea shells, eat ice cream...and maybe...something more?
Relationships: Axel & Roxas & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas/Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Kingdom Hearts: Rokushi Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1786918
Comments: 10
Kudos: 14





	Rokushi 2020: Vacation: In Which Two Clueless Zombies Hit The Beach

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It is the property of Square Enix and Walt Disney Studios. This is a creative work that I do not profit off of in any way.

**Rokushi 2020: Vacation: In Which Two Clueless Zombies Hit The Beach**

Months upon months of waiting and it was finally time. Roxas could hardly believe it. During that horrible year with the Organization, the one real bright spot had been eating ice cream with Axel and Xion on the clock tower in Twilight Town. And Axel had come up with an idea—the next time they all had a day off, they would all go to the beach. That had been ages ago, and for the longest time, it hadn't seemed like it was ever going to happen.

Things had gotten bad. Really bad. As bad as Roxas could imagine. Xion, through no intent and no fault of her own, had been siphoning his strength, and furthermore absorbing Sora's memories. And rather than allow Roxas to suffer, when there was literally no more time left to wait, Xion had goaded him into destroying her, allowing him to take his power back.

Things had gotten worse from there—Roxas had forgotten Xion _entirely._ She had been made of memories and he had forgotten everything—her giggly laugh, the way her eyes shined when the sunset reflected just right, the way she collected sea shells, and the way she was absolutely determined that everything she did was for the good of everyone else.

And Roxas had been kidnapped and had his memories of Axel taken away to, only to return in the minutes before he was forced to return to Sora. And Roxas had thought that would be the end of his independent existence. Turned out Sora had entirely different ideas where _that_ was concerned.

Roxas had a body of his own now. A life of his own now. And the wars and fighting, they were over. For now, at least. Trouble might come up again someday, apparently lasting peace was quite rare where Keyblade wielders were concerned. Whatever, Roxas would worry about that another day.

Now at long last, the three of them were getting to go to the beach. Axel insisted on it, and was bound and determined to make sure that this beach trip would be the vacation of all vacations. To start with, that meant taking the trip by train. Trips were all the more special when you took unusual transportation for them

"Three tickets, please," Axel said to the ticket teller, a young woman with dark hair and brown eyes. Roxas thought she looked familiar, but he was also fairly certain he hadn't seen her before. "For the beach."

"Taking your little brother and sister out?" The ticket teller asked. "Two students, one adult…there we go! Little chilly for it, isn't it?"

Roxas frowned. He didn't think it was that cold, even with a breeze. And besides, this was their chance at a beach vacation. He'd be willing to go, no matter what the weather was. Axel chuckled lightly and ruffled Roxas's hair, as if he could sense his confusion.

"Yeah, but this way we'll have the beach to ourselves," Axel said. "Thanks for your concern though."

"Hmm…good point," The teller nodded. "Say, I recognize you—Roxas and Xion! My cousin Pence talks about you all the time!"

"You're Penny," Xion chirped. "You like chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches."

"You work at Twilight Treats, don't you?" Penny the Teller smiled at Xion and handed Axel the three tickets. "Alright, the train for the beach leaves in about twenty minutes. Have fun, and I'll tell Pence you say hello."

Roxas lifted up his beach bag and Xion did the same. Axel took the tickets in one hand, and shuffled to the conductor, his arms full of gear. The conductor nodded at the three of them and checked his watch.

The train blew its whistle and Roxas inhaled deeply. He could almost smell the salty sea air now.

oooo

Xion was so excited, she could hardly sit still. The train to the seashore was considerably smaller than the one that went to Sunset Terrace. The seats were different too—a bright blue, compared to the usual orange. Xion liked the color. It reminded her of the ocean at the Destiny Islands. Or Roxas's eyes.

Even though Xion loved the ocean and the beach and especially seashells, she had never been to the beach in Twilight Town before. Xion strained her neck to try and look out the window, to see if she could catch a glimpse of the beach early. She could see the clock tower…and further back, she thought she saw the bistro. She couldn't see Twilight Treats, the ice cream shop where she worked for Granny. That was how she knew Pence's cousin, Penny. Granny had taught her to remember every customer and what their favorite ice creams were.

Xion set her bag down and twisted around in her seat. She could see properly now—the upper-class neighborhood in the hills where her friend Olette lived. The observatory far in the distance. Still no beach yet. The—hand poking her in the ribs! Hey, that tickled!

"Axel!" Xion yelped, twisting around in her seat. Axel was standing up—which Xion was pretty sure was against the rules, even if they were the only ones in the train car. Of course it would have been him that tickled her—he said it was his job as her "big brother."

"The beach isn't going anyway, shrimp," Axel teased, ruffling her hair. "We'll get there, when we get there. Try and relax a little."

"Sorry," Xion apologized automatically. "I'm…just excited, I guess."

"Oh, c'mon Xion," Roxas said. "You don't have to apologize for being excited. This is what we've all always wanted."

Xion smiled at Roxas. He was always so encouraging and kind. Roxas grinned at her and sat down next to her. Their hands were almost touching. Xion blushed, she held hands with Roxas occasionally, but it wasn't really something she made a habit of. Still…it was nice. And it was something she wanted to do more often, if she was being honest.

"What _I_ always wanted was to sleep, sleep and sleep some more," Axel said with a wink. "I'm counting on a nice nap on the beach."

"You're gonna sleep away your entire vacation day?" Xion asked. "Again?"

The last time they had had a day off, back in the Organization, Axel had slept the whole day away. Roxas had wandered around Twilight Town and played a game of Grandstander with Hayner, Pence and Olette. Xion had…trained in battle simulations against the Dusks. Okay, she couldn't really judge Axel if that had been the way she had spent her last day off.

"Hey, I work hard, and I don't have the magic half-pint metabolism," Axel joked. "When you two get to be big and strong like me, you'll get used to the idea that sleep is the most wonderful thing in the world."

Whatever. Xion enjoyed a good nap now and then, but she didn't think she'd ever enjoy it as much as Axel. The only other person she knew who liked sleeping that much was…heh, heh.

"You know, Roxas came from Sora, and I came from his memories," Xion said. "But I think you're the one who inherited being a lazy bum."

"Lazy bum?! For that, kiddo," Axel said, "I'm gonna get you. You won't know when, you won't know where, you won't see it coming, but I'm gonna get you."

Xion broke into a fit of giggles and she felt Roxas cuff the top of her head. The scent of the sea was much stronger now. And she could hear the cries of sea gulls too.

"We're nearly there now…"

oooo

The breeze was sharper here than it had been in town, but Roxas didn't mind. The sun shined bright, even in its eternal sunset. Axel hoisted his bags and Roxas and Xion grabbed their own belongings. The train had dropped them off at the platform, but there was still a hill to climb over. A very sandy hill with…what kind of trees were those? Roxas looked up curiously—the trees lining the hill were much taller than the ones in the woods, and the leaves were long and thin. But the gull cries were getting louder, and Roxas could hear the crashing of the waves. They had arrived.

The beach was deserted. Axel was right, they were going to have the beach to themselves. That was alright for Roxas. He liked it when it was just the three of them.

"Alright," Axel said. "This spot is as good as any other. Perfect sun, perfect sand, perfect spot for a nap."

Before Roxas could say another word, Axel had set up an umbrella, a cooler filled with soft drinks, and a large beach towel. Axel yanked off his jacket and closed his eyes. A moment later, Roxas could hear Axel snoring.

"Wow," Xion said. "You know, I didn't think he'd fall asleep _that_ fast. Maybe he's right about how much he works."

"Or maybe you were right, and he's just a lazy bum," Roxas said. "Well, what do you want to do?"

"Hmm…" Xion said. "I'd like to go out on the water, I think."

She knelt down and undid the straps on her sandals, pulling them off and setting them on the edge of her own beach towel. Xion dug her bare feet into the sand and giggled. Roxas toed off his own shoes. The sand was warmer than he thought it'd be.

Roxas and Xion walked down the beach, the sand shifting under their feet. The sand grew cooler, and more tightly packed the closer they got to the ocean. It allowed them to leave proper footprints. As they drew even closer to the water, the sand began to get closer to mud and it squished under their feet.

The water itself was, oddly, warmer than it looked. Roxas wondered why that would be—the sun didn't really shine in Twilight Town, though their shadows moved and adjusted just like they would in any world.

"How far out do you want to go?" Xion asked. "I don't know if I want to swim."

"We can go out a little ways," Roxas said. "But yeah, we shouldn't go out too far."

Every step into the ocean was, frankly, weird. It almost felt like the water was trying to pull him down, and it got stronger the further they went. They were probably thirty or forty feet from the shore, the water reaching their waists when Roxas decided he didn't want to go any further. A larger wave crashed towards them, soaking Roxas and Xion completely.

"Gah!" Roxas spluttered. "My mouth was open!"

"Can I hold your hand?" Xion asked. "I'm afraid I'm gonna fall over."

Roxas nodded and Xion grabbed his hand…quite eagerly, come to think of it. Xion's hand, even covered with sea water, was still smooth and warm. Roxas felt his ears begin to grow warm. Oh man, he hoped it wasn't the beginning of a sunburn—those really sucked.

But Xion was giggling again. A light and airy little laugh. Roxas grinned at her. Xion's laugh was one of his favorite sounds in the world.

"What kind of fish do you think that is?" Xion asked. Roxas looked to where she was pointing. A small fish was darting around their legs, swimming in little circles. Looking at it made Roxas kind of dizzy, and it wouldn't hold still long enough for him to get a good look at it.

"Some sort of minnow, maybe?" Roxas said. "I didn't think they lived in the ocean."

"Hmmm…maybe," Xion said. She lifted a leg cautiously and the minnow—if it was a minnow—darted under her foot. "It's kind of cute."

A few minutes later, Roxas and Xion began walking back to shore. It wasn't easy walking through the water while holding her hand, but Roxas didn't really mind. The water was only down to their knees when an even larger wave than before crashed down on them, knocking them into the water.

"Pbbbt!" Roxas spat out a mouthful of salt water. Blech! It was weird that sea water was so bad-tasting when sea salt ice cream was so good—though Roxas did remember that what he really enjoyed about

Xion, for her part, was giggling again. They were close enough to the shore that the water only came up to their ankles.

"It's like the ocean wants to play with us!" Xion laughed, kicking a bare foot at the ocean, splashing playfully.

"You think so?" Roxas asked. "Well, I think the water needs to learn how to play nicely."

They walked back to where they had left Axel, who was fast asleep and beginning to snore.

Xion sat down next to Axel, brushing the sand off her feet. A moment later, she splayed out onto the sand. It was kind of funny seeing her stretched out next to Axel, since he was so much taller than her. Her feet barely reached his knees. Roxas sat down next to her.

"Now what?" Roxas asked. "We could get something to eat—there's pretzels and watermelon and popcorn. Or maybe we can search for sea shells? Or we could—"

"Did you say sea shells?"

oooo

Xion loved sea shells. She always had, even back in the Organization. After her missions, she would sneak to worlds with beaches—usually Destiny Islands—and find shells. She loved the different colors and the fragility of the shells. It felt nice, trying to hold something so delicate when what she usually did was smash Heartless to death. She also really liked how you could hear the ocean when you held one to your ear, but Isa had told her that anything cupped to her ear would produce a similar sound.

And when Roxas fell into a coma—right around the time Sora fell asleep too—Xion had collected sea shell to put by his bedside. It was one of the first ways they had truly connected. And when she had fallen ill, Roxas had collected shells for her too. But they had never really collected sea shell together before. But this was their vacation, and Granny always said there was no time like the present to start something new.

Xion giggled as the water lapped against her bare soles while she and Roxas walked along the shoreline. She liked walking with Roxas. The sunset blazed against him, and the orange of the sun made his blond hair look very nice.

Xion pressed her toes into the sand. She liked walking barefoot too—which was a little surprising to her. She didn't usually go along barefoot—she had even _slept_ with her boots on for the first year of her life. It was funny now, how long she'd have her own life, and yet she was still learning new things about herself. She liked being barefoot.

"What do you think of this, Xion?" Roxas asked. "I've never seen a shell like this before."

Xion took the shell from Roxas. It was flat and perfectly round. It wasn't quite white in color, almost like the sweet cream at Granny's sweet shop.

"I think it's a sand dollar," Xion said. "Good find, Roxas!"

She put the sand dollar in a small plastic pail she'd been carrying; it was nearly full of shells.

"I think that's enough," Xion said. "Let's bring these back."

There were many things you could do with sea shells. You could collect them, and put them on a windowsill or nightstand. Or you could make art out of them—Kairi made chimes out of sea shells on Destiny Islands. And Olette had made a lampshade of out sea shells, once.

But given that this was their beach trip, Xion thought it might be best to leave the shells with the beach. But first…

"It's funny, when you think about it," Xion said, as she leaned back onto the sand. She wiggled her toes and giggled. "Each of these shells was once the home of a living creature. Or at least their house."

Roxas took out one shell, a pinkish spiral that might have belonged to a hermit crab, and placed it next to her elbow. He took another shell, light purple and long and thin, and placed it a few inches down her arm. This went on for a while, Xion lying as still as she possibly could, while Roxas drew an outline of her with the shells they collected. All the while, they mused on what might have lived in the shells.

"Sand dollars were living things?" Roxas asked, placing the sand dollar he'd found earlier at Xion's shoulder. "That's hard to believe."

"So are a lot of things," Xion said. She giggled as Roxas brushed a hand through her hair. "It's hard to believe there are other worlds. Worlds that have blue skies, and worlds that are always nighttime, filled with monsters. And worlds that—Roxas, that tickles!"

Roxas pulled his hand back from her head. He was smiling at her. Xion smiled back—Roxas had such a nice smile, it was hard not to smile around him. She looked around. Roxas had finished outlining the sea shells and he was offering her his hand. Xion reached up and intertwined their fingers, as Roxas pulled her to her feet.

oooo

Axel was still asleep, though it didn't look like he was snoring any more. But Roxas was hungry. And even if she didn't admit it, Xion was hungry too—he had heard her stomach grumble when he helped her out of the sea shell outline.

So that meant finding something to eat. A long time ago, when Roxas was planning a beach trip with Hayner, Pence and Olette, or at least the digital versions of his friends, he had suggested eating watermelon. Hayner, or the digital Hayner, had shot down the suggestion as that was too expensive.

But Roxas had quite a bit of munny now, having collected it from slain Heartless throughout his travels. He didn't need to worry about watermelon slices being too expensive a treat for a beach vacation.

He and Xion walked to a small stand, where a very short, very wrinkled old man was selling slices of iced watermelon. He grinned at Roxas when he bought two slices.

"Mmmm…" Xion said. "Roxas, these look wonderful."

"Well, wonderful watermelon for a wonderful friend," Roxas said, handing Xion a slice. Ugh, That sounded a lot cooler in his head.

"Well…you're…um…" Xion took a bite out of her melon slice, "remarkable…and…um…"

She trailed off and sat on a nearby bench. Roxas sat next to her, so close their shoulders touched. That in itself wasn't really new, but Xion seemed warmer than usual. Roxas wasn't sure why that was. They sat next to each other all the time, but now…it felt different, but in a good way.

"Never had watermelon before," Xion said, taking another bite. Roxas nodded and took a bite out of his own melon. It was chilled from a freezer, so it was almost like eating ice cream. "Thank you, Roxas."

"You're welcome," Roxas said. He smiled as Xion took another large bite. Bits of melon dripped from her lips. She looked a little goofy, but Roxas couldn't help but look. Xion was his best friend, and seeing her so at peace, after everything they'd been through, it was really cool. That wasn't really the word he wanted to use…radiant. She was radiant, even with a face smeared with melon juice.

On that note, Roxas took another bite of his own melon slice. Watermelon was delicious…but it wasn't filling. He was still hungry. What else did he want…something special just for him and Xion? He glanced at Axel—who was _still_ fast asleep on his beach. towel. Axel was gonna waste his entire vacation day sleeping!

Roxas startled when Xion took his hand. He glanced at her, and she was smiling in a way like she wanted to keep a secret.

"How 'bout ice cream?" Xion whispered, pointing towards another stand with a plastic ice cream bar balanced on its roof. "My treat."

oooo

"Hi, can we get—Granny?!" Xion blinked in surprise. What was Granny doing here? She had her shop back in town. So far as Xion knew,

"Hello, my dears," Granny said. She smiled at them and removed a pencil from her hair to take their orders. "Is Axel not with you today?"

"Er…he's napping…which is normal for him," Roxas said. "Um…not that I'm not happy to see you, but…what are you doing here?"

Xion winced. That was rather rude of Roxas…but it was a pretty good question.

"Oh, I come and I go as I please, I go where the ice cream takes me!" Granny said with a wave of the pencil, almost like it was a wand. "So, are you going to have your usual sea salt ice creams? Or perhaps something a little different today?"

Sometimes, Xion was sure that Granny could read minds. But something different did sound good.

"What would you suggest, Granny?" Xion asked. "Ice cream is wonderful, but is there anything that's really for a vacation?"

"Oh, I know just the thing you need!" Granny said. She took out two tall paper cups and filled them with vanilla ice cream. Xion licked her lip. Vanilla ice cream was very tasty. Granny took out a pitcher of something dark and sweet-smelling and filled the ice cream cups with it.

"Here you go, two root beer floats for my two favorite customers!"

"Thank you, Granny," Xion said, handing her some munny to pay for the ice cream. Granny tutted about how lovely her manners were and Xion and Roxas began walking back to Axel.

Xion sat down next to Axel and pressed her feet into the warm sand. Roxas sat next to her. Together they sipped at the…root beer floats? Xion had never eaten one of these before…or drank, since the root beer was melting the ice cream.

"Want a sip of mine?" Roxas asked.

"Only if you take a sip of mine," Xion said, holding her cup out.

Roxas's eyes seemed to brighten when he took a sip of her ice cream soda, and Xion wasn't positive, but she thought that Roxas's float tasted better than hers.

She felt a twinge in her stomach and Xion blinked. This feeling…it was strange. It wasn't painful, and it wasn't like she was hungry, at least not any more. It wasn't really a tickle either. But it was something she did kind of like. It felt kind of like butterflies in her stomach.

Could this…could this be like what Kairi and Sora felt for one another? Roxas meant a lot to her. More than her other friends—not that she didn't love her friends. But Roxas was special. She liked being with him, and she missed him when he wasn't around. And right now, in the middle of their beach vacation, Xion felt like if she didn't do something now, even though it was kind of scary, she might not get the chance again.

"Roxas," Xion said. "I…um…there's something I want to do…and I…well…"

She summoned all of her courage—why did this feel so scary, it wasn't like fighting Heartless or Nobodies or any other sorts of monsters—and kissed Roxas. This was just like Sora and Kairi! And in the movies she watched with Olette that Hayner whined about, and Pence watched with them but asked that they keep it secret. She was kissing Roxas! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! She could feel her lips pressing against Roxas's…wait, these weren't his lips. It was too bumpy…she opened her eyes. She'd been kissing his chin…for almost a whole minute! Auuggg! She missed!

"Guhhhh…" Xion jerked away from Roxas really, really fast and she felt her face begin to burn. Much, much hotter than even the sand under her feet. Roxas was staring at her, his mouth a perfect circle.. He was as surprised as she had ever seen him and she had known him almost his whole entire life. Xion glanced down at the sand under her toes and contemplated whether she could just bury herself in the sand and hide for the next….bazillion years. She wasn't quite sure how many a "bazillion" was—but it sounded like it would be long enough for everyone to forget she had tried to kiss Roxas and missed and kissed his chin.

"Um…Xion?"

Xion felt like her mouth had dried out completely. She could barely breathe. And Roxas was staring at her and oh, she had ruined everything, hadn't she? And then—icy cold water was poured on her head!

"Gah!"

"Hey kiddos, what did I miss?"

Xion shook the water out of her eyes. Axel was peering down at her, a wide grin across his face. In his hand, he held the plastic bucket she and Roxas had collected the sea shells in. They had left it next to his beach towel after Roxas had made that outline around her. Guess Axel wasn't napping anymore. Dread filled her insides. If Axel had seen her try to kiss Roxas…he'd never let her forget it.

"Hi, Axel. Finally decide to stop…being a lazy bum?"

"My word!" Axel said, putting a hand over his heart. "Such insults from such a little girl! You know, that would hurt my feelings, but that was such a weak insult, I'm offended on its behalf."

Xion turned her head back. Okay, Axel hadn't seen anything…he was just being a goofball. Good, good. He wouldn't have shut up about it otherwise. This was alright. This was alright. She could apologize to Roxas just as soon as This was—hey!

"I told you I was gonna get you!" Axel said, ruffling Xion's still damp hair—ugh, his fingers were all sandy, it would take her forever to get the sand out of her hair. "One of life's little rules, Xi, never let your guard down."

Axel didn't usually call her "Xi" unless he was in a particularly good mood, or else when he was comforting her after a nightmare. Xion squirmed away, rubbing the sand from her hair, but Axel chuckled.

"So, how about we do something special?"

oooo

Roxas grinned as Axel tossed Xion over his shoulder. Xion yelped in surprise and her face grew even redder as the blood rushed to her face, but Axel just carried her back to a sandier part of the beach.

Xion had kissed him. She had missed and kissed his chin…but she had kissed him. The idea of them kissing…well, it wasn't something Roxas had _never_ considered before. Xion was one of his best friends and she was smart and pretty and funny. And Roxas was pretty sure he felt the same way about her that Sora felt about Kairi…but then again, Sora and Kairi didn't really kiss much. Sora always said that there was always something stopping them—like the coconut that hit Sora on the head last week.

"Roxas! Help!"

Could he kiss Xion? Roxas looked to where Axel was dangling Xion upside down, and even though she was calling for help, she didn't seem that worried.

"I think this is the rare and endangered Xion…Tuna," Axel said. "Man, I wish I had brought my camera."

"Axel, you're losing your touch," Xion said, squirming in his arms. "A tuna fish? Really? I don't—aah!"

"Catch, Roxas!"

Axel tossed Xion towards Roxas and she knocked him to the ground. She had twisted in Axel's arms so much, that she had managed to turn herself all the way around again. They were face to face. As close as they had been when she'd kissed him…

Axel had put his hands behind his head, a lot like the way Sora did when he was bored—was Axel _trying_ to be as much like Sora as possible? And Roxas looked up at Xion who was turning her head away, embarrassed. Roxas pushed himself forward, his lips brushing against hers. Roxas kissed her. On accident. Oops.

"Gah!" Axel shouted. "You…she…what?!"

"Uh….it was an accident?"

_I can't believe I did that. I can't believe I did that. I can't believe I did that. I wanted to do it. I can't believe I did that._

"Er…" Xion was turning bright red. She rolled off of Roxas but didn't stand up. As she did so, her fingers brushed against his. Almost instinctively, Roxas took her hand. Xion didn't jerk her hand away…she intertwined her fingers with his.

"So…um…" Roxas trailed off. He didn't really know what to say. But he didn't mind lying on the ground with Xion. He liked holding her hand, and it meant he didn't really have to think. But mostly, he liked holding her hand.

"Um…Axel," Xion said. "What's with the pail?"

"Seeing as I can't trust you two lovebirds not to get into trouble," Axel said."The best thing I can think to do is bury the two of you. Then we can all take a nap."

"Axel, you just finished your nap…" Roxas protested.

"Hey, I work hard! And I only slept and slept! Now I get to sleep some more, now hold still."

Roxas rolled his eyes as Axel poured sand over the two of them. Xion broke into a fit of giggles—but that was probably because Axel tickled her soles while he buried her feet. Roxas liked hearing her laugh. After a few minutes, Axel decided he was finished. Roxas rolled his eyes again. He was covered in sand, but it would have been stupidly easy for him to escape, even without magic. It seemed that burying the two of them had less to keep them out of trouble, and more to just make them look kind of goofy.

The sunset wasn't the first he had seen, but it was one of the nicest. Given that it was Twilight Town, Roxas had no idea what time it was—lunch hadn't been that long ago, though. Beside him, Xion was wiggling, trying to break free.

"No fair," Xion said. "He used way more sand for me than he did for you. I'm stuck!"

"Er…" Roxas said. "Should we talk about…"

"Um…" Xion said. "Sorry…I should have asked you if…"

"I was surprised," Roxas said, "But I did like it."

"I still should have asked…" Xion said.

"I didn't ask to kiss you, though," Roxas said. "But it was kind of an accident."

He trailed off, but he was fairly sure that Xion squeezed his fingers. Though it might have been the sand covering their hands. Either way, Roxas decided to

"Alright, you two," Axel said, walking over with a small paper bag of popcorn. "Any one want any?"

Without waiting for an answer, he flicked a piece of popcorn at Roxas. It bounced off his nose, into his mouth. Roxas almost choked and strained his neck to look at Axel, who was smiling sneakily.

"Axel!" Xion called. "Let us up!"

"And have you two get into more trouble?" Axe asked, tossing a piece of popcorn into Xion's mouth. "Not a chance, kiddo."

Axel took a seat back on his beach towel and began eating the popcorn by the handful, occasionally tossing a piece to Roxas or Xion. It was actually quite nice—even now, they largely had the beach to themselves. Roxas even felt himself beginning to drift off. He could see Axel's point about sleeping.

"Oh, would you look at that!" Axel said. "Dolphins!"

"Where, where, where?" Xion said. "Dolphins?!"

She wrenched herself free of the sand and darted to her feet. Roxas followed her up a moment later. Axel made some sort of comment about how they could have at least pretended that he did a good job at burying them, but Roxas ignored him. There were dolphins maybe forty feet off the shoreline.

"They're so beautiful," Xion breathed. "I've never seen dolphins before, not even on Sora's island."

Roxas grinned, It was really nice, seeing Xion so happy. And the dolphins themselves were cool too—shiny and silvery, with yellowish bellies. There had to be six or seven of them. And the way they were splashing around—were they showing off?

"They say that dolphins are the smartest creatures in the world, even smarter than people," Axel said.

"I believe it," Xion said. "They don't seem the type to waste a day off by sleeping."

"They're dolphins," Roxas said, watching one of them leap out of the water as if it were a gymnast. Beside him, Axel wrapped an arm around Xion's neck so he could ruffle her hair. "Are they ever not on a day off?"

"Hmmm…" Axel said, easing his grip on Xion so he could wrap his arm around her shoulder instead. "Good point."

They watched the dolphins play in the water for nearly twenty minutes before they swam further out to sea.

"They're heading home," Axel said. "Think it's time we better get home too."

Roxas and Xion nodded and walked back to their little camp. Axel grabbed his umbrella and bags while Roxas pulled his shoes back on. Ugh. Somehow, he had gotten sand in his shoes. Xion stepped back into her sandals, and Roxas could see her wiggling her toes, trying to push the last bits of sand out of her sandals.

They walked slowly back up the hill, trying to relish as much of the beach as they could. Roxas took Xion's hand again as they neared the train station. Xion turned and smiled at him. She smiled at him as they got on the train and sat down next to each other. She smiled at him as she leaned her head on his shoulder as the train set off. And she smiled at him as the train went along the tracks and they gradually began seeing the landmarks near Sunset Station.

When the train finally pulled into the station, and they began walking home, Roxas felt really tired. Beside him, Xion had slipped off her sandals again, her bare feet pressing against the paved stones of the road. After another thirty minutes or so, they were at the end of town, at the house they lived in with Isa.

"I'd say that was one of our very best vacation days," Axel said, smiling in a sneaky sort of way, as he put away his umbrella. "Wouldn't you say so?"

"Sure," Roxas said. "I had fun."

"It was great," Xion said. "Oh, Roxas, there's something else."

Before Roxas could saying anything else, Xion stood on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I had a really, really good time," Xion whispered into his ear. "And I got to spend it all with you. This is my new favorite day."

"You're…you're welcome," Roxas said. He looked at Xion, her bright blue eyes. The way the ends of her lips turned into dimples when she smiled. Her raven hair still damp with sea water and sand. The handful of sea shells in her pail that she had kept as keepsakes. She was his best friend, his favorite person, and she had never looked so pretty.

Impulsively, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. It wasn't an accident, like last time, and he didn't miss, like Xion had earlier today. It was a real kiss.

Xion was blushing when Roxas pulled away from her. Really blushing, so much that Roxas almost thought it was a sunburn. But she was also smiling. As wide as Roxas had ever seen her smile.

"I guess…" Roxas said, brushing a bit of Xion's hair behind her ear. "This is my new favorite day too."

"Aaaaaah!" Axel wailed. "I thought I was seeing things earlier! When did this start?!"

Xion began to giggle.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Another day done for Rokushi Week, my dear readers. Beach vacations for Roxas and Xion have been done a hundred times before, but I really liked writing this.
> 
> Read on, my dear, dear readers. Leave a comment if you're so inclined. I appreciate each and every one of you!


End file.
